Game Controllers

Once upon a time, Steam envisioned homes with a Steam Machine gaming box in their living rooms. The idea of playing PC games on such a large screen and on the comfort of your couch would have gone well if not for the fact that most PC games are designed with keyboard and mouse in mind. That may no longer be true today, with a variety of games across genres advertising support for game controllers. With Steam's latest dashboard feature, the PC gaming market's biggest distributor is telling developers to start caring about controller support.

Continue Reading

A lawsuit has been filed on behalf of Sony DualSense controller owners VS Sony for alleged defectiveness of said controller. This case was effectively sparked by law firm Chimicles Schwartz Kriner & Donaldson-Smith (CSK&D). In the case files viewed by SlashGear, it's suggested that "the DualSense Controller is defective," and that "this defect significantly interferes with gameplay and thus compromises the DualSense Controller's core functionality."

Continue Reading

New consoles naturally brought along with them new controllers and while some of these boasted new features, they also managed to keep some old ones around. They can, for example, still wirelessly connect to more than just the console they came with, boasting support for Windows PCs and even some mobile devices. The new Xbox Series X|S Controller is no different but it apparently has an undocumented feature that makes it easy to switch from Xbox to Xbox Game Pass streaming in a flash.

Continue Reading

The PlayStation 5 didn't just usher in the next generation of Sony's gaming platform, it also introduced a new controller that breaks away from previous generations in more than just the name. For one, the DualSense changed the decades-old arrangement for the Japanese version, making it identical to the rest of the world. It also added more sensors and switched to haptic feedback in this iteration. It may have also broken compatibility with some DualShock accessories, explaining why a patent for a Back Button Attachment for the DualSense just popped up.

Continue Reading

The folks at SCUF and Ironburg Inventions sued Valve a few years ago for patent infringement. They claimed that Valve's "Steam Controller" was made without the proper paperwork, working with SCUF to license their patents for back-facing paddle controls. But wait, you might be saying, the Steam Controller isn't the only controller with back-facing paddles, right? You're right!

Continue Reading

For pretty much as long as the Nintendo Switch has been on the market, we've been hearing reports of Joy-Con drift from players. Drifting thumbsticks have been a major problem for a lot of people, to the point where Nintendo has had class-action lawsuits filed against it. Now, it seems the company has caught the eye of a major consumer advocacy group in Europe, and may soon be facing an investigation from European regulators.

Continue Reading

An update to all NVIDIA SHIELD TV devices this week made available a connection to next-gen gaming console controllers. This is not the ONLY feature the update adds, but it is by far the most significant. With this update, users will be able to connect an Xbox Series X/S wireless controller and/or PlayStation 5 Dual Sense controller to NVIDIA SHIELD Android TV for top-notch gaming hardware control in full effect.

Continue Reading

The industrial design of the Sony PlayStation 5 is bold. The base hardware for the past few generations of Xbox and PlayStation have been relatively tame - in their base configuration, anyway. With the PlayStation 5, Sony decided to take a more daring approach, with an extreme bit of industrial design AND a color scheme that made sure every curve was highly apparent. Today a concept redesign of this console delivered an alternate reality - one in all-black.

Continue Reading

Two controllers appear in a single special Star Wars box. Both controllers per Xbox Principal Designer Elliott Hsu, the custom controllers "feature sketches of the now iconic Child wielding the Force and the steely Mandalorian's Beskar armored profile." These controllers are not going to be available for sale to the public - or at least they don't appear to be planning on selling them individually yet.

Continue Reading

I spend a not-insignificant amount of time thinking about game controllers. At this point, I might as well be a game controller collector. Not only do I have multiple controllers for each console I own (obviously), but I’ve also got a number of them that I’ve purchased for playing PC games throughout the years. If you count all of the 8bitdo controllers I’ve purchased for retro gaming, then I’ve definitely wrapped my mitts around a fair few gamepads.

Continue Reading

The PlayStation 5 is barely out of the gate - particularly in regions like Europe - but Valve has wasted little time in bringing DualSense controller support to Steam. Steam's DualSense support is still in the early stages of testing, which means it isn't live for all users yet. Still, assuming that their games are using the Steam Input API, developers don't have to do anything to get DualSense functionality up and running in their games, which is certainly a nice touch.

Continue Reading

The latest and greatest iPhone and iPad models are capable of high-end mobile gameplay, but you probably don't want to limit yourself to touchscreen controls. A number of third-party Bluetooth controllers with iOS and iPadOS support are available, but if you already own a gaming console, there's a good chance you can use the console's controller with Apple mobile devices. The Xbox Series X and Series S are currently an exception.

Continue Reading